senate

C2+ Topic:House & Home

US /ˈsɛnət/ UK /ˈsɛnət/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a legislative or governing assembly, especially an upper house

The bill was narrowly approved by the senate.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a legislative or governing... assembly council legislature parliament chamber diet

Word family

Derived forms senatorsenatorial

Related forms senator senile senior seignior

Appears in

Proverbs (1)

See all

A woman's place is in the House and Senate

Simplified etymology

Senate entered English in the Middle English period and derives from Latin senex, meaning “old” or “old man.” It belongs to the same word family as senior and senile.

Etymology

From Old French 'senat', from Latin 'senatus' ('council of elders'), from 'senex' ('old man'), from Proto-Indo-European *sen- ('old').

senatus Latin senex Latin *sen- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

House & Home Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# senate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɛnət/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɛnət/

## Meanings
1. a legislative or governing assembly, especially an upper house

## Examples
- The bill was narrowly approved by the senate.

## Synonyms
- assembly
- council
- legislature
- parliament
- chamber
- diet

## Derived Forms
- senator
- senatorial

## Related Forms
- senator
- senile
- senior
- seignior

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: senatus
- Root: senex
- Root: *sen-

## Etymology
From Old French 'senat', from Latin 'senatus' ('council of elders'), from 'senex' ('old man'), from Proto-Indo-European *sen- ('old').

## AI Etymology
Senate comes from Old French 'senat', from Latin 'senatus' ('council of elders'), from 'senex' ('old man'), from Proto-Indo-European *sen- ('old'). The form is best read as a historical transfer or inheritance, with its older language material carrying the main semantic load. As a noun, it denotes "a legislative or governing assembly, especially an upper house", keeping the historical idea close to its dictionary sense. Relevant historical forms include Latin senatus, Latin senex, and Proto-Indo-European *sen-. Derivative forms include senator, senatorial; related words include senator, senile, senior, seignior.

## Topics
- House & Home
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown